Kyle Schwarber may be considering a move to a dark horse team.
The free agent slugger Schwarber seems to share mutual interest with the Cincinnati Reds, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported Friday in an appearance on “Foul Territory.” While Rosenthal adds that he does not ultimately see Schwarber signing with the Reds, he notes that the team’s interest in Schwarber is “real.”
Schwarber, who is notably a native of Middletown, Ohio, spent the last four seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies. He led the NL with 56 home runs and 132 RBIs in 2025, setting himself up for a major payday as a free agent.
As for the Reds, they are a surprise suitor as a smaller-market team that ranked in the bottom half of the league last season in payroll. Cincinnati is also just a fringe playoff team after going 83-79 and getting swept by the eventual champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Wild Card round.
But the young core is in place for the Reds, namely with the likes of Elly De La Cruz (23) and Hunter Greene (26) leading the charge. That should give Cincinnati a sustainable foundation with which to steadily improve over the coming seasons.
Of course, Schwarber will turn 33 in a few months and isn’t quite the perfect fit for the Reds’ timeline. But as a player who already won a World Series ring in 2016 with the Chicago Cubs, perhaps Schwarber will buy what Cincinnati is selling (assuming that he is not tempted by some of his bigger suitors instead).
